No Concrete Leads In Vandalism

Bethlehem Township police said yesterday that they have no new leads in vandalism at a concrete manufacturing company where more than 100 union members had protested.

Police Chief Joseph Barner said police patrols on Brodhead Road, where Pany Concrete Inc. is located, have been increased while the investigation continues.

No new instances of vandalism were reported yesterday.

Police said truck windows were smashed and an office was vandalized Wednesday afternoon.

The plant, where concrete is manufactured for company jobs, was the target of a protest earlier Wednesday by members of Carpenters Union Local 399.

A spokesman for the local, basedin Belvidere, N.J., denied yesterday that his group was responsible for the vandalism.

"I don't know what happened," said Wallace C. Whitford, business manager of the local.

Whitford said the protest Wednesday lasted from about 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. and was meant to "peacefully" oppose what he called less-than-prevailin g wages being paid by Pany Concrete for the continuing construction of a distribution warehouse at Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph in Greenwich Township, Warren County.

"The effect is that it's depressing the wages we have worked to get for years," said Whitford. "The people in Warren County have a lot higher cost of living than they do over there (in Pennsylvania)." Whitford said the goal of the protest is to have the wages brought in line with those paid in Warren County.

The Bethlehem Township company was closed Wednesday because of the protest and reportedly was shut down yesterday as well.

A company representative declined comment yesterday.

No further protests are planned in Bethlehem Township, Whitford said, but added: "We hold that option open."

Whitford said the union would also leave the door open to resuming its protest at the Greenwich Township construction site, which he said began last winter and ended last Friday.

No damage estimate of the vandalism has been made available. Police have reported that 13 trucks were damaged, several by cinder blocks heaved through windows. The office was vandalized, a phone line was torn down and meter boxes were destroyed, according to authorities.